Yes most likely too much over thinking. As you can see my plant is at such a size now that plucking a leaf off it wont even be noticed. What it did was allow for a bit better air flow. Remember that the indoor grower doesnt really want lower bud sites anyway. You will be focusing primarily on tops, as many as you room can fit.
Oh one more thing, if that plant is 17 days old its doing very well! But soon that pot will be too small for it. Better think about more soil and a bigger pot.
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I’m still out of likes. Lol. My thought process was that since they were topped, growth will be slowed at the node where the topping took place until the two new branches emerge. I thought that if I removed those two fan leaves covering the next lower node, then it would increase the rate of growth by allowing more light and allow them to catch up with the two new tops. That way they could all grow together at similar heights. The flaw in my thinking is that those two giant fan leaves were there to feed those lower branches. I’m sure they will continue to thrive, but I won’t do this again on the next cycle.
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no the fan leaves, and all the leaves collectively, contribute to the same goal! The process is kinda 2 fold, transpiration and photosynthesis. Plants draw water food and water from the soil by transpiration. As they sweat it causes water to be drawn up through the root. Its one reason cutting leaves off is sometimes not a great idea as it can slow down transpiration. No point in having large roots if no sweating above ground is happening? Then there photosynthesis, we all remember that process from school so I wont go into detail there. I hope this helps you better? The main focus for you now is the master plan for the plant… scrog net? If so begin training and pruning for as many branches as you can get. This process takes a month or better to get the plant set up. So be patient and enjoy the process
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I had intended to top them at least twice, use some low stress training to help open the canopy and also planned on setting up two nets. The flower room is a 5x5 gorilla tent with an HLG 600 and 9 plants in 10 gallon smart pots. This is my very first indoor grow, and I’m largely clueless. 
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Well you are off to a good start! So here is a good trick. Some folks do multiple topping, not really needed. When you top a plant you stop the flow of a hormone called auxin. That hormone is responsible for leader growth. After you top, fhe auxins will flow to available tops in an attempt to create a new leader. If you have fhe branches from the first topping pulled down horizontal, the plant doesnt know which node is the top hence once the branch is level to the ground top it! All the nodes will try to nominate themselves. Grape growers use this technique all the time. You will have loads of branches!
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That is awesome! So only top once, and train those branches down and the rest will catch up in their own? Am I reading this correctly? I have about $5k in equipment right now, which is a lot of money for us. My grandpa always told me though “if you buy cheap, you buy twice”. Lol. I’m definitely hooked on gardening. I’m only using one of the tents right now because it’s a new setup and these are all of the plants I have. Once these get larger, I will be taking a clone of each, to keep alive until I figure out which phenotype is best for a mother. After that, I will be introducing more genetics to the garden and will always have something going. I look at this forum everyday, so I plan to be around awhile.
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No, top once and grow out those branches laterally, once you have enough branch nodes coming off thise branches say 4 of them? Pinch the end of those branches. Then all the nodes will try to act like a new top. Does that make sense? The trick here is the branches be staked sideways its what basically happens when an outdoor guerrilla grower stakes his branches down all the nodes grow a top upwards the main difference is you will top yours and that interrupts the normal flow of auxins as opposed to just continuing the same branch along the ground. Does that make sense? This is akin to manifolding. But when you manifold you generally only have 2 main branches, a left side and right side. In this example you would top at the forth node and have North south east and west branches staked down then you grow them out 4 more nodes and top them. Each node will then create 2 new branches that want to be the leader. Thats the best way I can explain it
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I understand now! That makes a lot of sense actually.
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super! As you can see by the branch math you will exponentially make branches in a hurry that way.
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Conversely you can grow a bush and hack off half of it and train it through a scrog net? Look at this plant and envision cutting half off in one swipe! Then set up a scrog net over it!
This plant would be even better! Never been topped yet.so these are obviously in a greenhouse and are growing an inch or more per day. The sativas are growing 2 inches a day! Im hoping to get these afgans to make a solid hedge 10 feet high by August!
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Hi, can I ask if these 3 plants are same type, age and handling? I’m a first time grower with a grow 29 days in pots and mine seem puny! thnx
I have 3 Balkhi, which are from The Balkh province of Afghanistan, and 2 Johaar which are from the Himalayas, one of which is a male. The plants were germinated on New Years day and intentionally kept small until they could be planted in the greenhouse. The Balkhi are now 50 inches tall and pretty bushy. The middle one is exceptionally bushy, very branchy at the internodes. Much more so than the others. The Johaars are now 7 feet tall and rising. They are not as bushy because they are true sativas. Is this the information you were looking for? Here is an older photo of them for a better description
Just some honest transparency here, big outdoor plants are usually started in February in North America. The plants are then acclimated for both outside dark hours and sun power. They are put into very large pots or large amounts of soil so roots are able to get very big! The larger the root mass, the greater the feeding zone, the larger the plant. That works great outdoors or in a large building but is obviously not ideal indoors. The grower encourages the spreading of the roots by watering farther and farther away from the stalk, and also watering deeper. Hope this gives food for thought! And as a parting gift heres a photo I really like
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Holy smokes. Never saw an MJ plant that big - didn’t even realize they could. Would you please give me an idea what climate/growing season that big mama grew in?
And yes, you gave me the background I wanted. And a lot more interesting bits as well. I’m sooo new to this. Thanks.